For A Good Cause
by badly-knitted
Summary: By chance, Ryo comes up with a great idea for Dee to raise money at the next charity fundraiser. Written for Challenge 136: Charity at beattheblackdog. Set somewhere around Vol. 6.


**Title:** For A Good Cause

**Author:** badly-knitted

**Characters:** Dee, Ryo, Commissioner Rose.

**Rating:** PG

**Setting:** Somewhere around Vol. 6.

**Summary:** By chance, Ryo comes up with a great idea for Dee to raise money at the next charity fundraiser.

**Word Count:** 1438

**Content Notes:** None needed.

**Written For: **Challenge 136: Charity at beattheblackdog.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

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Dee wasn't in a good mood this morning; Berkeley Rose had given him a hard time for arriving at the precinct a mere fifteen minutes late for his shift, despite the fact that Rose had just been arriving himself. Knowing the Commissioner, he'd probably been having a manicure or something, whereas Dee had been held up by unexpected delays on the subway. What right did Rose have to lay into him over something that was beyond his control? Dee was aware his boss didn't like him, which was fine, the feeling was entirely mutual, but now he was just being petty.

If it weren't for the fact he would've gotten into even more trouble for not going straight to his desk, Dee would've gone to the basement shooting range and blasted a few targets to shreds, pretending they were the Commissioner's head. It might have given him a small amount of satisfaction as well as burning off some of his anger and resentment. Instead, he pulled a pad of paper out of his desk drawer, grabbed a pencil, and took his revenge in a different and altogether more constructive fashion.

"What're you doing?" Ryo asked, coming up behind him and almost scaring the life out of him.

"Ack!" Dee yelped, hurriedly flipping the cover of the pad closed. "Don't sneak up on me like that!" Twisting in his seat he glared up as his partner. "Thought it was Rose comin' to have another go at me for bein' late." He frowned. "Did you get caught up in the subway delays too? You're usually here way before me."

Ryo shook his head. "I got here early; I was just in the Chief's office, filling him in on where we are with the Roberts case."

"Oh." That figured; Dee couldn't remember Ryo ever being late for work in the more than two years since they'd been working together.

"You didn't answer my question." Arms folded over his chest, head tilted to one side, Ryo looked down at his seated partner.

"Huh?" Dee was confused; what was Ryo on about now? Had he missed something? "What question was that?"

Ryo rolled his eyes, grinning. "And you think I'm an airhead! I asked what you were doing."

"Oh, that. It's nothin' important."

"Meaning whatever it is has nothing to do with work." Ryo knew Dee well enough by now to be sure of that.

"Uh, not directly, no. Call it… occupational therapy of a sort. I can't punch Rose in the face for gettin' on my case over somethin' that wasn't even my fault, so…" Dee hesitated a moment longer, checking over his shoulder to make sure nobody else would see, before flipping open the sketchpad again. The sketch wasn't quite finished yet because of Ryo's interruption, but it was quite obviously a caricature of Berkeley Rose, a gigantic head on a tiny body, being flattened by a cartoon mallet.

Ryo snickered. "That's one way of taking revenge." He leaned in for a closer look and because Dee was momentarily distracted by the subtle scent of his partner's aftershave, he almost missed his fellow detective's next words. "I didn't know you could draw; that's a really good likeness."

"It's… a hobby, I guess. I don't draw as much as I used to, recently seems like I haven't had much time for it." Suddenly he was glad he'd pulled out a fresh pad and not the one that was almost full, because more than half the sketches in that one were of Ryo, many of them drawn from memory while his partner was elsewhere. Yeah, he'd got it bad for the gorgeous Ryo Maclean, for all the good it was doing him. He flicked back to the previous page, a cartoon of JJ being strangled by a giant hand, and the page before, one of Drake making grabby hands at a pile of candy bars.

"You seriously need to make more time for drawing, Dee. These are amazing!"

Dee flushed slightly with pleasure. "You really think so?"

"I do." Ryo perched on the edge of Dee's desk. "In fact that gives me an idea. Janet caught me earlier; she's organising the charity fundraiser again this year and wanted to know what she could put me down for."

"Okay… That was an abrupt change of subject." Dee leaned back in his chair, stretching his legs out beneath his desk, and looked enquiringly up at his partner.

"Not really. I was just thinking, you could offer to draw caricatures or cartoons of people, maybe charge five bucks a time and people get to keep their pictures. I bet there'd be plenty of people interested. I know I would be."

Looking down at the sketch of Drake again, Dee frowned. "Never really thought of doin' it for money. I guess I could though, I mean it would be for charity and it's somethin' I enjoy doin', when I have the time or like today, when I just feel like killin' someone, metaphorically speakin'."

"You should have a word with Janet before she puts you down for the kissing booth or something."

"God, yes; no way I'm doin' that again! Last year I had to kiss JJ at least twenty times. He kept joinin' the end of the queue! I had chapped lips for over a week afterwards."

Ryo laughed. "I remember that." Dee hadn't pounced on him once for the whole week.

"I still have nightmares about it!" Dee shuddered. "One of the worst experiences of my life. Thanks for remindin' me. Some friend you are!"

"Sorry."

"Nah, it's fine. So what about you? What's Janet got you doin' this year?"

"I volunteered to bake cakes and cookies for sale." Ryo's eyes lit up at the prospect; he loved to bake. "I'm taking the two days right before the fundraiser off, already spoken to the Chief about it, and he said it's okay. I'll buy in all the ingredients I'm going to need before then so I can just concentrate on baking, and there are a few things I can make ahead of time and freeze."

"Maybe I could come over and give you a hand. I mean, I don't know the first thing about bakin; but I could weigh stuff, wash dishes, go to the store if you ran out of something… maybe sample each batch, just to check the quality?" Dee looked hopefully up at his partner.

"Maybe," Ryo granted. "As long as you promise not to eat everything. I know what you're like; I need to have enough left over to sell or I won't raise much for whichever charity we're supporting this year."

"Just a little taster of each, I swear!" Dee crossed his heart.

"I'll hold you to that. I suppose I can always do a bit more baking after the fundraiser. Bikky will probably insist on it."

"And for once I'll agree with him; you should bake more often."

"Like you and your drawing, there never seems to be enough time." Ryo gave a wry smile. "Between work and being a single dad, time goes by so fast. There're always so many things that need doing."

"Won't always be like that; one day the kid'll be all grown up and then maybe you'll have more time for the things you want to do."

"It's a nice thought, but it's not gonna happen today. You'd best put your sketchpad away and we'd both better get on with some work before Rose or the Chief decide to check up on us." Ryo pushed away from Dee's desk and walked around to his own, sitting down and turning his computer on.

"Yeah, guess you're right." Returning the sketchbook to his bottom drawer and locking it, Dee opened his notepad; he had some phone calls to make. Tonight though, he'd take both sketchbooks home with him; maybe he'd have time to finish the cartoon of Rose.

When he got the chance he'd have a word with Janet about Ryo's suggestion, and if she liked the idea he'd pick out a few finished pieces to display at the fundraiser so people could see some of his work before handing over their hard earned cash to have a sketch done of themselves. To his surprise, he realised he was in a much better mood now, and was looking forward to having a chance to spend time drawing without feeling guilty. Best of all, it would be for a good cause. For the first time in living memory, instead of approaching it with a sinking feeling of dread, he might actually get to enjoy the annual fundraiser.

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The End


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